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Episode 223: From California to Copenhagen

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·46m 18s·analyzed·Oct 16, 2019
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Pinball Profile World Tour launch covers LA, SF, and Copenhagen pinball communities and tournaments.

Summary

Jeff Teolis documents the launch of the Pinball Profile World Tour, visiting Ace Gogi in Los Angeles, Free Gold Watch in San Francisco, and the European Pinball Championships in Copenhagen. The episode features interviews with venue owners, competitive players, and community organizers, showcasing the growing diversity and international reach of competitive pinball. Teolis highlights sponsorship partnerships, tournament formats (Flip Frenzy), and the vibrant pinball communities across multiple countries.

Key Claims

  • Ace Gogi has 64 capped league members with a 20-person wait list for Thursday night league play

    high confidence · Shane Nazari, Ace Gogi co-owner, stated league is 'capped out at 64 members' with '20 to get in' on wait list

  • Free Gold Watch San Francisco Pinball Department league has 80-person membership limit with over a year-long wait list

    high confidence · Andre Massinkoff confirmed 'wait list takes over a year to get in the league' and numbers limited 'to about 80 just for safety reasons'

  • Free Gold Watch league began in 2013 and continues running as of the episode recording

    high confidence · Andre Massinkoff: 'First season we played was the beginning of 2013, so we've been going strong ever since'

  • Matchstick Pinball in Sweden hosts two major annual tournaments: Matchstick Pinball Open (84 persons) and The Whoopers (50-55 persons)

    high confidence · Mirko Lundin: 'two big tournaments every year. Matchstick Pinball Open, it's open for 84 persons. The Whoopers is about 50 to 55'

  • Pinball Profile World Tour includes 10 locations across 4 countries

    high confidence · Jeff Teolis: 'I've got ten different places, four different countries in the next few months'

Notable Quotes

  • “Pinball is almost perfect. I'm starting a petition, and if you would sign this for me, because there's one area that needs improvement. Okay. A seniors division.”

    Mike Jim @ ~28:00 — Community advocacy for age-inclusive tournament categories in competitive pinball

  • “Every single person I've played. Fantastic... Most people that come here are pretty serious, so we all play with each other and learn from each other.”

    Leslie Ruckman @ ~43:00 — Describes the competitive culture and collaborative learning environment at Free Gold Watch

  • “I don't like when people are negative and there's negativity... when people bring a lot of niceness to the league and you know put a smile on my face, like I want to reward that.”

    Brian O'Neill @ ~50:00 — Explains motivation for creating the Spirit Award to recognize community culture over competitive performance

  • “Denmark always wins... we're always underdogs. We pretend that we can actually win, and some people get confused and let us win.”

    Mads Christensen @ ~71:00 — Reveals Team Denmark's strategic mindset at European Pinball Championships

  • “It is very, very difficult to organize something of this magnitude, especially Europe's biggest pinball tournament ever.”

    Jeff Teolis @ ~76:00 — Acknowledges the organizational challenge of hosting the European Pinball Championships

Entities

Pinball Profile World ToureventAce GogiorganizationFree Gold WatchorganizationPIN LaborganizationMatchstick PinballorganizationJeff Teolisperson

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: International tournament infrastructure maturation evident in Europe with mega-tournaments (European Pinball Championships described as 'Europe's biggest pinball tournament ever') and multi-day festival events becoming standard

    medium · Mirko Lundin discusses 5-6-7 day tournament festivals in Germany, Brisbane, Australia as emerging trend for WPPR points accumulation

  • ?

    community_signal: Pinball Profile World Tour demonstrates significant community investment with multi-country events, random prize giveaways across all skill levels, and charity tie-ins (Project Pinball raffle tickets)

    high · Jeff Teolis explicitly states 'every prize we give away, all at random. So it's not even by merit. You just show up.'

  • ?

    event_signal: Spirit Award innovation at Free Gold Watch recognizes positive community culture over competitive achievement, addressing negativity concerns in competitive pinball

    high · Brian O'Neill created Spirit Award for Jessica JT explicitly because 'I don't like when people are negative' and wanted to 'reward' players bringing 'niceness to the league'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Positive sentiment toward venue accessibility and machine variety at established locations; players express appreciation for both competitive depth and casual play options (new games and classics)

    high · Multiple players praise Free Gold Watch's 'good mix of older and newer games' and Ace Gogi's '50 cents' pricing on 'all the newest games'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Flip Frenzy format gaining traction as inclusive tournament option accommodating larger player pools; San Francisco players emphasize strategy component (forfeit timing, queue management) alongside skill

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.136

0:00
It's time now for another Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Teels. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at Pinball Profile. Email us, pinballprofile at gmail.com. Find us on Instagram. and please follow us on your favorite podcatcher. It's fitting that I'm recording this in an airport because that's seemingly where I've been for the last, oh, I don't know, four weeks. First to LA, then to San Francisco, then to Hawaii, back to Toronto for a few days, and then off to Copenhagen. It's all part of the Pinball Profile World Tour, and this is how it began. That is good Korean food. Hey, what is this back here? What's at the back of Ace Gogi? It's pinball machines galore. And look at who's here. So many pinball players that I know and love. Carl D'Angelo. Oh, he's trying to eat while I'm talking. Hi, Carl. How are you? Hey, Jeff. How are you? It's funny because we always go to a lot of different restaurants together. You recommended Gorilla Sushi in Vegas. And I did ask you about Ace Kogi, and you said it's really good. You were right. Good, good. I'm glad I was right. You're dying to eat right now. No, no, no. Keep talking. No, no, no. Keep gabbing there. You're out here and we're not on the world tour. Oh, boo, frickity-hoo, Carl. Hold on a second. Listen, do you know how many places have asked me since I announced the 10 places on the Pinball Profile World Tour? Hey, what about us? Doesn't mean I won't do another one. It just means right now these are the 10. And this was a coincidence that I happened to be here. Right. And you know what? The reason you don't need a Pinball Profile World Tour event here at Ace Go, You've got league night here. I see the Stern Army. You're right. It is league night. Just a couple minutes, right? 15 minutes or so? Every Thursday? Every other Thursday. Yeah, okay. I bet a lot of people love watching you play.
2:02
Taking their points. I don't know about that. What a jerk. I generally get the, I don't want to be in your group. Yeah, that's too bad. Anyway, my friend Pinside Petey said to say hi to Dingalow if I see him. All right. Great to see you, Carl. Hey, Petey. All right. And Mrs. Pinball Profiles here. My wife, Ann. We're actually here in California on vacation for Anne's birthday. How was dinner, hon? It was fantastic. Who knew there was this massive pinball room hidden behind this lovely restaurant? I had no idea. I had no idea either. I was just looking for a Korean barbecue. Oh, lo and behold. It was a coincidence. It is pretty cool back here. It's very cool. Very cool. Really nice setup. Great people. Happy to be here. Anyway, thank you for buying dinner. Love it. Emoto's here and I'm going to be seeing Emoto in a few days by the time this airs, I will see you twice but I'm pretty excited to see you here in LA and you're coming up to San Fran too yeah, and I don't like being in Carl's group I cry is it because of his personality or what? I don't get any points so how does the league work? is it head to head? is it match play? yes I'm such a plebe when it comes to actual tournaments and stuff But it's points, so like first place gets four, then two, one. What is that? It's head-to-head, right? Match play, I think. Okay. We are on match play server, so it's probably match play. I'm watching. Well, speaking of match play, you're coming to San Francisco. So is Andreas. I'm very excited to see the great Dane from match play. He'll be in San Francisco at Free Gold Watch by the time this airs. It will have already happened, but it's great that you're coming up. And you're actually going to another event with our good friend Daniel Scholar.
Carl D'Angelo
person
Emotoperson
Shane Nazariperson
Jessica Jordan-Thompsonperson
Andre Massinkoffperson
Michael Szaboperson
Brian O'Neillperson
Leslie Ruckmanperson
Daniel Spolerperson
Derek Lipkinperson
Mirko Lundinperson
Mads Christensenperson
Stern Pinballcompany
Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
Deep Root Pinballcompany
Project Pinballorganization
Flipperkelaardenorganization
European Pinball Championshipsevent
Flip Frenzyevent

medium · Derek Lipkin describes Flip Frenzy strategy: 'you also have to stay on your toes. You got to get back in the queue. You got to know when to forfeit'

  • $

    market_signal: Pinball community experiencing demographic diversification with emphasis on women players (Bells and Chimes chapters), youth development (Escher, Colin Irvin), and intergenerational participation (seniors division advocacy)

    high · Jeff and Mike Jim discuss 'women, that weren't involved with the sport early on' and rising youth talent; Mike Jim starts petition for seniors division

  • $

    market_signal: International pinball tournament participation requiring significant travel commitment; players traveling 5+ hours between events (LA to SF, Phoenix to Riverside) indicating strong player commitment and geographic distribution of competitive talent

    medium · Daniel Spoler: flew to Phoenix, drove 5.5 hours to Riverside, then 6 hours to SF for consecutive events

  • ?

    technology_signal: Pindigo scoring app gaining adoption in competitive leagues as standard scoring tool; reported higher adoption in SF venues than NYC

    medium · Michael Szabo: 'people on my team use the app, and they love having me on the team. I found that everybody here seems to love the app a lot more than I'm used to back in New York City'

  • ?

    venue_signal: Successful pinball venues integrating multiple revenue streams: food service (Ace Gogi Korean BBQ), merchandise (Free Gold Watch t-shirts), content creation (streaming), and league operations

    high · Free Gold Watch evolved from 't-shirt printing company' to 'biggest location really in San Francisco' per Andre Massinkoff; Mystery Pinball Theater 3000 streaming actively used for software testing

  • ?

    venue_signal: Multiple venues report explosive growth and capacity constraints: Ace Gogi has 20-person wait list for league, Free Gold Watch has 1+ year wait list despite 80-person cap

    high · Shane Nazari: '20 to get in' on wait list; Andre Massinkoff: 'wait list takes over a year to get in the league'

    • 3:46
    Yes. Pinball at the Lake is happening this weekend. Inland Empire sponsors that as well. So then Dan and I are getting in the car together and driving up six hours to San Francisco to come to your inaugural event, the World Tour, right? That's very, very nice. And you know, I am buying a bunch of Project Pinball raffle tickets to give away at the Pinball Profile World Tour at random. It doesn't matter how you do. Ooh. They just show up, just play, and you can win all kinds of prizes from Stern, from Jersey Jack, from Deep Root, from Comet, from Measle Mods, from Ulex Store, and even a set of pin stadium lights. Pretty cool. I can win a pinball machine? Yes, you could. Really? Yes. Oh. Honestly. Oh, I'm excited. How cool would that be? That would be a dream come true. Speaking of cool, Emoto, it's always great to see you. I'll see you in a couple days. Yeah. See you then. Be curl.
    4:42
    Thanks. One of the co-owners here of the amazing Ace Kogi is Shane Nazari. And Shane, I've got to tell you, I walked back here. This is a showroom for all the greatest games. What a collection. Well, thank you so much. It means a lot. Yeah, we try to have it as a home collection available for everyone to play and enjoy. But great games, great prices, too. I noticed that as well. Everything's 50 cents, yeah. That's pretty cool. Like all the newest games, 50 cents. Yes, sir. What a deal. And you've got a Thursday night league here. Every other Thursday the league meets. We're capped out of 64 members. We've got a wait list of about 20 to get in. You've got two? Yes. That's so cool. And right here in Van Nuys, and you've got another location coming too. In West Hills. Hopefully at the end of next month, we'll be open there. We've actually coined our company name now as Ace Goge Korean Barbecue and Pinball. It's a great website too. So when I showed my wife, I said, hey, let's go get some Korean barbecue. I knew what I was getting. Right, of course, of course. And she started scrolling down at the bottom of your mobile website. Right. See the pinball? I'm like, that's enough, that's enough. You're good. Right, right, right. She was in on the Korean. Great. This was over the top, and she's actually having fun too. I see that. Awesome. I'm happy you guys made it up. I've got to be careful. You know, a lot of pinball I play, so I just have to take it easy. By the way, that meal was spectacular. Oh, thank you so much. I have Korean food back home, and I enjoy it, but this was really, really delicious. I appreciate that. Yeah, we tried to, we've done like a more Americanized version of Korean barbecue. You gave me a lovely shirt here. That was very, very kind. Of course. You shouldn't have. You lost a lot of money. I mean, all you can eat, I maxed out at two hours. I'm happy to hear that. It makes me happy. It was really good. Anyway, check out Ace Golgi and check out the new location in West Hills. That's going to be soon. Hopefully in the next month, yeah. Oh, that's great. And we have a whole separate dedicated pinball room in there as well. And stop by here. What's your favorite game? Because you've got all the new ones. It's hard to tell. I really like, I really love Beatles. I love, obviously, Deadpool. I love Jurassic Park. And you've got the toppers, too, and limited editions. Like, I mean, you watch the pictures on Pinball Profile and on our Instagram page. I'm putting a bunch of those pictures up there. Also, some great classic games, too. I saw Cheetah. I saw Future Spa, Quicksilver, I think. Yep. And then we've also had, what else? We have Stargazer, Nineball, a lot of the classic tournaments. I try to change things up for every meet that we have, especially all the tournaments we do. We always bring new games in. If I do another Pinball Profile World Tour, I think I might have to make a stop here. I hope so. You're welcome anytime. Thanks, buddy. Thank you. It's great to see another friend here. Mike Jin is here in L.A. at Ace Goge. And I think, well, I've seen you a bunch of times, But I remember seeing you at the first ever, it wasn't a Pinball Profile World Tour, but it was a Pinball Profile Road Trip in Denver, and we played it one up. Do you remember that? Yeah, that was a lot of fun. It was pretty good. Yeah, with Kevin Ryan and a bunch of other characters. So, yeah, it was a great time. Yeah, Ryan Wanger did a great job. He's a sponsor of my Pinball Profile World Tour with Comet Pinball. He's a wonderful guy, a great player too. So, you know what, that kind of gave me the idea for this big tour that I'm doing, and I've got ten different places, four different countries in the next few months. I'm so jealous.
    7:40
    And it's an excuse for me to go play some pinball. That's excellent. Brilliant idea. I know, we're so fortunate. They have places like here at Ace Goge and around the country. And I think pinball is coming up in age. It's really gotten much more popular, a lot of enthusiasm for the game out there. And it's great to see people like you, I mean, pinball profile and others, that really help promoting the game and the sport. Thank you. Very nice, Mike. It's really cool. That's nice of you to say, Mike. And you know what is great? And for people that I meet that you probably come across, a lot of people say, oh, you play pinball, leagues and all that. Explain. I get asked this a lot. Oh, is it all men? Is it women? Is it kids? And I am glad to say it's everybody. And, in fact, it's growing in all areas, too, with the Bells and Chimes chapters for women, with big events like WIP, and seeing kids just dominate like Escher, like Colin Irvin and so many wonderful kids. It really bodes well for pinball in the future. You know, there was that lull. You and I are about the same age, right? 30, right? Well, thank you. Quiet, quiet, quiet. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. There's no lie detector. Just go with it. Anyway, we missed a lot of pinball, and now we're in this great golden age again of all these amazing machines come out. We've got all the machines here from Stern, from Jersey Jack. We've got other companies like Deep Root coming out, American Pinball, Spooky. it's a good time to play pinball. No, absolutely. And I think it's really important that we have others, age groups, women, that weren't involved with the sport early on. And it's great to see our community really embracing the diversity of all the communities to make up people that really enjoy pinball. And it's great to see the vendors out there, the folks, the vendors and everything that are really helping to promote this around the country and around the world. Pinball is almost perfect. I'm starting a petition, and if you would sign this for me, because there's one area that needs improvement. Okay. A seniors division. If you'll sign this right here, please. Yes. I know. Yeah, I'm in the seniors division technically, yeah. So I would like that. But there's some really great players in senior divisions as well. It's like these people are just amazing. Okay. seniors with glasses and that have been on this episode of Pinball Profile. We'll just limit it to that. Yeah, okay. That sounds good. All right. Is that all right, Mike? Yeah, that sounds great. Mike, Jim, thank you very much. Good luck tonight at Ace Kogi. Thank you, Jeff. Thank you so much. It's great to see you.
    10:11
    One night in the disco on the outskirts of Frisco I was cruising with my favorite gang So thrilled to be here at the first ever Pinball Profile World Tour We're here in San Francisco at Free Gold Watch. And a player I'm just meeting for the first time. I've been watching. You're very good. Jessica Jordan-Thompson, how are you? I am so excited to be here, Jeff. Are you? I don't normally play tournaments, but I'm in the SF10s League. And I love competing against the players there. And I thought I'd try my hand at something fresh and new. And this is a fun one to do because it's nonstop playing. You get to play a variety of different games against all kinds of people. I think you'll enjoy the foot frenzy. I am looking forward to competing against Mr. Andre Vazenkov right now. Well, okay. Sometimes you get some bad draws in getting Andre right now. But you know what? It's a good thing he's a friend. But you know what? If we make fun of him behind him right now while he's playing. Period. I know. He a great player I never want to do that No you know he one of the nicest guys Look at him Look at him Here Jessica all the best Thanks for coming out Thank you so much for hosting this Thank you This is amazing. You know, when you enter your scores on Pindigo, it's because of Michael Szabo, and he's here in San Francisco. How you doing, Michael? I'm doing all right. You having fun? Having fun. Entering any scores? No. Nothing worthy of Pindigo. A lot of people are certainly enjoying Pindigo, and leagues are using it as well. Yeah, it's been pretty cool. I actually just moved to San Francisco, and people on my team use the app, and they love having me on the team. I found that everybody here seems to love the app a lot more than I'm used to back in New York City. Yeah, and I know you help out with Papa Pinball TV. You're a good sponsor to that, too, on Pindigo. I've been at many events, and I've seen the Pindigo commercials, so thanks very much. Free Gold Watch, you moved to a good place. I mean, these games are great. This is a great place to play, yeah, absolutely. I love this place. The only problem is you've got Brian O'Neill. You've got Zach Wollens, Andre Massinkoff. So many amazing players here. Yeah, I'm really outclassed today. But Brian's moving, I hear. He's moving to the East Coast. Good, good. One in, one out. I like it. Michael Zabel, thanks very much. Appreciate you coming. What was I thinking inviting this guy to come play in one of my tournaments? Oh, wait a minute. It's in his town of San Francisco. Andre Massinkoff joins us. Hey there, Jeff. I'm glad you're here, buddy, because it's always fun to play you. You know it'll be a quick game, not because you're a slow player by any means. You don't ever pause and stop, and I love that kind of style. Yeah, thanks, Jeff.
    12:47
    I just paused and stopped. Smart ass. Anyway, free gold watch. We're having a lot of fun here. This is where your league is, isn't it? Yeah, San Francisco pinball department. First season we played was the beginning of 2013, so we've been going strong ever since. The wait list takes over a year to get in the league off of because it's so popular. And we've got to limit the numbers to about 80 just for safety reasons. It's so funny because I was talking to Matt, who runs it here, and looking at the great printing press, all the amazing t-shirts that are done here at Free Gold Watch, and then it just grew and grew into this pinball palette, and it's the biggest location really in San Francisco. Yeah, it's pretty extraordinary how it grew. It's just when they got their first four games, they just got hooked, and then it just became an obsession. By the end of 2012, they brought in some from Sean, and it just never stops. And then they keep inventing new places to put their machines. For example, the office is the EM room. And the area in the back now is a pool table and four pinball machines. And also there's the Players Club, which you haven't seen yet. I didn't get the invite. Thanks, Andre. But I'll tell you what, I do like this, and also the games too. If you haven't checked it out before, I'm looking at Willy Wonka. I'm looking at all the great Jersey Jack pinball machines, a great sponsor of the Pinball Profile World Tour. Right now they're streaming live on Mystery Theater 3000, the new Jurassic Park, but Black Knights over there, Batman, Guardians, all the new games, they get everything. Yeah, that's the nice thing about this place. You can always count on them for the newest, best games. I mean, you name it. If it's Jersey Jack, Stern, or TNA, we got it. I mean, we don't have Alex Cooper's Magic, what is it, Haunted Castle, Evil Castle? Nightmare Castle. but we got just about everything else and a good mix of older and newer games which is important as well. I think Matt and Sean really like those special oddball titles that you don't get to see very much. We've got some interesting ones here like Popeye. We've got the Hoops now and quite a few other funky games. Alien Star on the back which I really enjoy and they get games in and out too. Thanks, Andre. Good luck in the tournament. Hey, thanks. Good luck to you. I'm sorry I beat you. On Hoops, yeah, yeah. I tilted out my basket bonus. Whatever. Anyway, it's fun playing you, buddy. Thanks, John. One of my favorite things about going to tournaments is finding out who the great players are. And people in San Francisco know, and at Pinberg know, Leslie Ruckman is a damn good player. I saw you destroy Brian O'Neill on Jurassic Park. That was good. Thanks. Yeah, it was a lot of work, but I'm glad it was worth it in the end. And you and I played on Fishtails. And I said to you, is everyone in San Francisco great? You were drop catching and nudging. And I was like, this is going to be tough. Every single person I've played. Fantastic. Yeah. Most people that come here are pretty serious, so we all play with each other and learn from each other. It's great. Well, thanks for coming to the Pinball Profile World Tour. Are you having fun? Yes, thanks. And there's still prizes to be won later. We've got so many to give away. Everyone's going to get a prize. Kind of cool. Yeah, I'm really excited. And at random, too, although you'll probably win it for Mary.
    15:51
    So what are your favorite games here? I like the New Jurassic Park game. I like Monster Bash. Funhouse, the good one. I don't know. There's too many. I like so many. Have you been playing a long time? Just about probably like five years now. Yeah. I noticed you and Ryan O'Donnell go back and forth and kind of one-up each other. I think it's pretty cool. Yeah. We both got into it together.
    16:15
    Boy, great San Francisco players like Leslie Rockman. Thanks very much. Yeah, thanks. No stranger to driving a little bit. Daniel Spoler is here. You and Emoto came up from L.A. You were at the pinball at the lake, weren't you? Yes. It was a great time. And it was super. Any time that I hear that Jim Belsito and Carl are running a tournament, I have to be there. Yeah, you're in Florida. It's a bit of a hike to get there, but... A little. I actually flew into Phoenix and drove five and a half hours into Riverside. And then Emoto said, hey, come to San Francisco and play at Freehold Watch. And you're like, oh yeah, that's only, what, six hours? True. I wasn't planning on coming up here. I forgot that you were actually going to be here, so I apologize. Don't forget because you're going to be, first of all, Freeplay Florida in the middle of November, kind of the 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, around there. Yes. And we have a Pinball Profile World Tour in Orlando on the 21st at the District. Oh, that place is fantastic from what I see. I can't wait to make it down there. Well, it's going to be good, and it's also a nice charity event, too, for Project Pinball. In fact, what I'm doing on these Pinball Profile World Tours, every event, I'm giving away a Project Pinball raffle ticket because we love the charity, we love what you do, and somebody has a chance to win a new pinball machine. Yeah, that's a nice gift to receive, especially if you're working hard at these tournaments to win. And then all of a sudden you can take that prize and build it into something bigger like a brand new machine. That's awesome that you're doing that. And as you know, every prize we give away, all at random. So it's not even by merit. You just show up. You never know what you could win. Really? Yeah. I did not know that. You could win. So you don't have to win the tournament. You don't have to win it. It's just random. The winner gets a lovely trophy from Ulix store. It's very, very cool. Lights up. It's awesome. But the prize is all random from all our wonderful sponsors. That's super awesome. I know. Great sponsor. Well done. Thanks very much. Well, all right. Good luck to you at the rest of the free gold watch event here. And I will see you at Expo. I will see you in November. Without a doubt. You too. You're on the road as well, so safe travels to you as well. Thank you, Daniel. Always a pleasure, Jeff. Thanks.
    18:30
    Brian O'Neill getting one last kick at the cat here at Free Gold Watch. You're moving, aren't you? Yeah, yeah. I'm leaving the Bay Area. But you've certainly got a lot of fond memories of Free Gold Watch. Yeah, yeah. One of my favorite things about Free Gold Watch is the San Francisco pinball department, the league here. I've been a member since it started. Were you a commissioner? I was an official, so I officiated a lot of stuff.
    18:59
    I'm going to miss a lot of people. But you had a neat spirit award, didn't you? Yeah, so this last season I thought about pinball. It's nice when there's a lot of positivity.
    19:11
    I don't like when people are negative and there's negativity. And so I think about, you know, when people bring a lot of niceness to the league and, you know, put a smile on my face, like I want to reward that. And so we invented this thing called the Spirit Award. And we gave it to Jessica JT. And she's right here. We talked to her earlier.
    19:35
    Every league night I look forward to just seeing her smiling face. And she gives the best hugs. I don't know if you've gotten a hug from her yet. I have not. She gives absolutely the best hugs ever. I did say that in my speech. Yeah, that was something I added. I was like, oh, she gives the best hugs. I'm going to miss her so much. I'm sure they're going to miss you too because you do a lot for San Francisco Pinball and you're such a great player and that's a cool award. And congratulations one more time, Jessica. I can see how Brian did that because I played with you for just a few hours here and you've been nothing but an absolute pleasure to play with. Thank you, Jeff. This was an absolute blast. I don't normally compete, but I love competing to see if I can get better. And what did you win? I won three things. Yes. I won a free gold watch gift certificate for $20. I won my only team, San Francisco 49ers football. And I got this cool. One of a kind. I don't even have one. There's my phone. A pinball profile. Pinball profile popper for my iPhone 11 that I'm hopefully getting very soon. Jess, congratulations. Jeff, you're the best. She also beat me tonight on Beatles. She beat me on Iron Man. And she didn't even realize she beat me. I decided to tell her later. I thought I lost. That's the kind of fun you can have at Pinball Profile World Tour. We want to see you at some of these events. Go online on our Facebook page and find out more about the Pinball Profile World Tour coming to you. Was it fun? Yeah, it was great. Thanks, Jeff. Absolutely fun. Okay. We'll see you at the next one, which happens to be in Denmark. Can you make it to Copenhagen? That's where it's going to be. October 10th and then October 16th, right before Expo, at Jack Danger's place at Dead Flip Headquarters. One of the cool things that happened here at Pinball Profile World Tour at Free Gold Watch is Manu Smith was streaming on Mystery Pinball Theater 3000. I loved it. That was pretty cool. Thank you very much. It's a labor of love because, holy smokes, it's hard to do. You had the gear up and you had switching from game to game. It's fun streaming. I have my own personal stream, but when you stream a tournament, it is a completely different beast. I mean, you know. Yeah. The rig has to move around and everything has to be wireless and our battery died tonight. Ah, battery smattery. You know what was cool? I was talking to Jay and Brian and they had Swerb it on a few of the games too. And I was watching them watch these games. And they use this facility to really test out their software. Yeah, I actually streamed Indiana Jones with a Scorbatron in it back about a month ago. Jay and I streamed it, and a bunch of people jumped on and asked him a lot of questions. So it was really kind of cool. Mystery Pinball Theater 3000, check it out. And make sure you see Manu and everybody here at Free Gold Watch. Thank you a lot, Jeff. Thanks. This tournament would not have run smoothly if it wasn't for this man right here, Derek Lipkin, who helped us out here at Free Gold Watch. Thanks very much, buddy. Yeah you welcome This is my pleasure It was a lot of fun Andre Massinkoff was the big winner Andreas came in second Eric was third and Zach Wollens was fourth Pretty fun Yeah, not an uncommon finishing top four here in San Francisco. Yeah, very, very nice people here. You must have a ball when you're here. Yes, yeah. Free Gold Watch definitely is the mecca for us. And it's a special place for many pinballers here. We had a couple people who had never played in a flip frenzy before. Is it not the most fun tournament? It is just like all over the place. I mean, it's so fun. But then you also have, like, you just got to stay on your toes. You got to get back in the queue. You got to know when to forfeit. Oh, I did. I was playing David Lee. Do you know David Lee? Yeah, David's fantastic. David Lee's killing Toten, one of my all-time favorite games. I'm like, I can see. He's like 22 million on ball three. I'm like nowhere near. I'm like, yeah, yeah, you got me. Yeah, yeah, there's a strategy to it.
    23:27
    But, yeah, no, we have. I feel very lucky to have this pinball community to be mine. It's just really such an open and friendly place. I've been playing now since 2015. Oh, wow. And, yeah, it's been so fantastic. Well, Matt and the staff here at Free Gold Watch, this place is a pinball heaven. Oh, yeah. And I'm not surprised to see City Champ here and all the great pinball players have learned a lot from these great machines. Derek, thank you very much. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, Jeff.
    24:01
    At the EPC right now with Mirko Lundin of Matchstick Pinball. How are you doing, Mirko? I'm good. Thanks for asking. You're watching Team Sweden play Switzerland, and it looked like, first of all, Sweden's missing a couple of heavyweights. They do. Jørgen and Jørgen are missing this weekend, unfortunately. But Sweden is so good at pinball, you could take anybody, right? Not really, but... I know, Switzerland just won. And do you know what? I was in Switzerland last October. Couldn't find a pinball machine anywhere. Lucerne, not a chance. In Albert, not a chance. I have no idea where Sutter goes. Wow, that's crazy. Yeah, but there's lots of pinball in Sweden. I've got to get there. It is, it is. You're welcome. You're most welcome. Talk about Matchstick for a little bit. Well, Matchstick Pinball is my collection. It's about 40 machines, all between 70s and new games. It's a nice place. Yeah. Yeah, it is. We do have two big tournaments every year. Matchstick Pinball Open, it's open for 84 persons. The Whoopers is about 50 to 55, so we're one of the biggest tournaments in the world right now. What I've noticed a lot in Europe, I haven't really noticed in Sweden, but Germany does it, and I've noticed a few other places. Obviously Brisbane and Australia just did it, where they have five, six, seven days of non-stop pinball tournaments. Well, that's not our... Okay, Sweden's not going to be doing that? Well, some people do it, but we don't do it. We want quality, not quantity.
    25:39
    Mirko, you watch. I think that's the new trend, because... Yeah, I know, I know. If you want to point, you have to do it like that. Think of somebody like Jorin, who couldn't be here this weekend, right? Imagine him going to one week of all these tournaments. That's right. That's all he needs to be here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He needs only a couple of tournaments a year and he's still up there. Where bums like me need to find every little thing we can, even if we have to come to Copenhagen. That's right, that's right. Thanks very much, Mirko. Thank you. Look at this. I'm not only talking to one of the greatest players in the world, but also part of Team Denmark, the championship team here at the European Pinball Championships. Mad Christensen from Denmark joins us. Hey, Mads, how are you? I'm fine, thank you. How are you? You said before we started, Denmark always wins. Always wins. You knew you were going to win this. No, I didn't. Oh, you were parading around there with the big Denmark flag, snubbing your nose at everyone. Maybe not.
    26:34
    No, it's true. That's part of the strategy from Denmark because we're always underdogs. We pretend that we can actually win, and some people get confused and let us win. Can I just say congratulations to you, the entire PINLAB team. This is a wonderful Danish Pinball Open, the second chance round, and, of course, the European Pinball Championships. And it all started at your special place for the Pinball Profile World Tour. Tell us a little bit about your underground pinball lair. Oh, that was an amazing event. We all went, like, underground to play pinball. What's it called? Flipperkelaarden? Yeah, Flipperkelaarden. It's like a very local, very street pinball-ish thing. You have to know how to get in. You have to know people to get there. And when you're there, it's good. Yeah, a lot of great machines, a lot of fun doing the Flip Frenzy. But, again, this is why we all came to Denmark, too, this incredible event here at PIN Lab. So many people really brought this together because there's a lot of machines, not just from the basement, but a lot of collectors helped, too, didn't they? Oh, yes, they did. Everybody in Denmark, I think, helped us out. Still, it was a battle to have all the machines working during these hot conditions with these crazy European players banging on the buttons and, you know, slapping everybody. I think everybody had a great time. And you know what? It is very, very difficult to organize something of this magnitude, especially Europe's biggest pinball tournament ever. But you did it. Congratulations. Thank you. I think we could only do it because of the forgiveness of all the players. We are not professional event makers. We're just pinball players, and we can only do this if we work together as a team, players and organizers. I did think it was very organized. And even from day one to day two, you made some subtle adjustments to make things better. So learning on the fly, great volunteers. I'm glad I came to Denmark Thanks very much Mads Thank you so much for coming I think if we all learn as we go along Then we can do this And it's great to play pinball together We're one family So have all these people visiting Copenhagen And the pin lab has been an amazing thing for us Thank you so much Thanks Mads I've watched this man for years Because he does incredible things on JDL Pinball And he's here right now Jim Lindsay here in Denmark How are you doing Jim? Excellent thank you Good to be here You were streaming last weekend, a big event. We were at Fulda, streaming the Midsummer Tournament Series, which was something like 11 tournaments in four and a half days. Some really, really competitive pinball there. Is that the new German way? Because they had the Pin Olympics, the Pre-Olympics, whatever, in June as well? We have the IFPA Olympics in June. We have the Ho Ho Ho at Christmas, which is a three-day tournament series with six tournaments. And yes, this is the new German tournament form. Does anyone work in Germany? What's going on? No, we have too many holidays. We have a lot more holidays than America. I mean, America, your holiday system sucks. I'm in Canada. It's the same.
    29:27
    Sorry, I forgot who we were talking about. No, that's all. So, yeah, we get far too many holidays. And basically, whenever there's a public holiday in Germany, it's on a Thursday usually.
    29:38
    Things like Unity Day, religious holidays, that sort of thing. And so we take a day's holiday for the Friday. We link it up to a four-day weekend. our wonderful country director Toby then organizes the great series four and a half days starting at tea time on the Wednesday playing a warm-up tournament all the way through to a four-strike knockout on the Sunday absolutely awesome Jim, if I lived in Germany and these events like last weekend like the Olympics in June like the Ho Ho Ho I don't know if I would do a lot of travel because there's enough pinball with these events I agree and you do actually find I mean there are Germans that travel I think there are about 10 or 12 Germans here for this weekend. But there aren't as many as you would probably expect. At present, Germany has, I think, 9 or 10 players in the top 100. And you would expect really all of those players to be here, and a lot are not. I think that's maybe the reason. I did see Johannes Ostemeyer, who is one of my favorite players. And you got to film the greatest match I've ever seen between him and Daniele at IFBA 16. I have watched that video. I'm not kidding. 10, 15 times? Yeah, that was the pinnacle, the highlight of JDL Pinball.
    30:54
    Josh Sharp asked us, well, they actually asked all the country directors for volunteers to stream IFBA 16. There was nobody in Italy who was prepared to do it. Probably because they didn't like Josh. I'm just assuming. I can understand that. It's easy to do. Yeah, it can be annoying. And if you remember on that Dracula game, he'd actually gone on a plane and was not in the slightest bit interested about the decision or anything like that. Wow, what a coward. Anyway, go on. Yeah, I know. But, you know, he stepped in and he sorted it out.
    31:25
    So, yeah, the Dracula was great. I mean, Daniele actually lost it on Game of Thrones on the game before. He should have put the final nail in Johannes' coffin in that game. And I don't think Daniele could believe that he did that. But for Daniele then to step up on Dracula the next ball and get 2.3 billion points really just shows strength of character. Two of the all-time greatest, too. For Johannes on ball three to basically step up with nothing set and need 3 billion, and he did it to win it. And just cool as a cucumber, it was something to see. So in Germany, you're in Dusseldorf. How did you get to Germany, first of all? You're obviously not a very thick German accent. I can hear the English. No, definitely from the north of England, around Yorkshire. You may just be able to pick up a slight Yorkshire accent. I've worked in international sales for many, many years, so I've sort of developed not to have a really strong accent. But the reason for moving was two things. The vacation, I assume. One, the number of holiday days you get. Two, the fact that my then-girlfriend, now-wife, lived in Germany. We'd had a five-year long-term relationship, a long-distance relationship, sorry, with me in England and her in Germany. So we had to resolve that by one of us moving one way or the other. I was offered a very good job in Germany working in a company that was very similar to the company that I worked in England. So everything just slotted into place. The only problem I have, well, two problems. One is I don't speak German.
    32:56
    Good dog. Be good still. Wunderbar, danke. Ein Bierbitter. but Dina speaks Dina's German is 100% so anything I need she sorts out and the other issue of course is Brexit because you know at the end of this month I might be thrown out of Germany oh no that actually won't happen okay what you got contacts with Boris or yeah Boris is a good friend of mine no he's not Jim it's great to finally meet you I've been watching you I've been hearing your voice for a long time but you're not the most famous Lindsay voice that I've ever heard your daughter is quite the showstopper on Game of Thrones. Absolutely. So my daughter, who at the time Game of Thrones was produced, was asked to do the voice, the female voice. So the female voice of Game of Thrones is Kate, she's now Rothwell Jackson. She was at the time recording Kate Morris, and before that of course she was Kate Lindsay, my youngest daughter She just trying to get further and further away from the Lindsay name that all I hearing Yeah you can understand understand that But she here this weekend as well with us with husband Richard Oh you have to introduce me to her What am I talking to you for This is ridiculous. Jim, it is a pleasure to talk to you. Again, watch JDL Pinball on Twitch. You do so many great things, and I know it's going to be great. You had Laura Farrelly on, actually, last week. Yeah, it's the sort of new concept I'm trying to introduce, which Jeff has just been giving me a few tips on interviewing techniques, because I interviewed Laura Fraley, and her and Clark were both at our folder tournament last weekend, and we did a 10-minute interview, which has now been uploaded onto YouTube. Basically, all of my Twitch videos get video edited and then put onto YouTube in a more refined fashion. It's a lot of work, but it means that people aren't searching through 50 hours of video to find something. And you know what? A little bit of editing is a wise idea, too, because once it's up there, it's up there forever, too, so you want the quality. It's not how quickly you can get it out. I'm all about the editing, so good for you. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So you keep up the good work that you do. It's absolutely awesome. Thank you very much, Jim. And I'll try and keep the tournament side running. All right. I'll be to see. Okay. Cheers. Pleasure. I hope I don't screw up your name. Please forgive me if I do, but from Sweden, Andreas Niverian. Yeah. How are you, buddy? Thank you. I'm very good. So you came up to me here at EPC and said, am I the new IFPA president? Let me just ask you, Andreas, if you were to vote between Josh and me, who would you pick? You, of course. Take that, Josh. How are you doing, buddy? How are you doing at EPC? Good. Doesn't work well on the games, though. It'll come. I mean, it's tough with limited entry. I started off great with three amazing games, then five stinkers. God bless the second chance. Yeah, I'm going to play that, too. I think so, too. I've tilted out six balls. Oh, wow. Tilted six. A little aggressive, is that a Swedish trait? No, I think it's the Danish machine. They are very sensitive. It's a great venue, my first time at the Pinn Lab. You've been here before? Yeah, I've been here before. Downstairs. Yeah. I am amazed at how many great players there are in Sweden. Actually, Jorgen's not even here, and Jorgen's not here. Yeah, no, exactly. I still suck.
    36:15
    We have a big community in Sweden. and it's continuing to grow. All right, I think they're calling my name, Andreas. Yep. Best of luck in Sweden. Same to you. I'll see you in a second chance. Yeah, hope so. Thanks, Andreas. Bye. You know, I play a lot in North America, as you know, so you see mainly a lot of North Americans, some Americans, some Canadians. But when you come to the EPC, countries from all over, including, obviously, from Germany. Andreas, Frank Meyer is here right now. And actually, we played together at Inver, didn't we? Yeah, we had one slot in the A Division. So we played with Stephen Bowden. Oh, yeah. Oh, that's right. Yeah. And that game, what was that game? We both have never played that kind of shooting game. I don't know. I don't remember exactly because I was so nervous. Steve did really well on that. That's right. I remember that bank now that you say that. But that's funny because you and your family went there on a family vacation, and you were on the waiting list. You were about 60th, but you actually got into Pinnberg. That was the nice thing about being on the wait list and then showing up. You got in. So it was really amazing because we have to wait until they announce the name. And then they called my name and I was so happy. I forget to be nervous to play. Yeah, you're right. You're just excited to play. And sure enough, made the A-Division. So that's really great. Yeah, this was a really, really great experience. I want to talk about something I have yet to have an experience at. And it's these great, massive, multi-day tournaments in Germany. And Bulls and Balls Fulda event that happens in June. I saw it online, and how many different tournaments were there? And I thought, this is awesome. I've got to get in this. Yeah, so it was about seven tournaments. So Tobias is the German country director. He is organizing these tournaments. So it's a really amazing tournament weekend for four days. And they play, for example, a Midnight Madness tournament from 12 in the night. Right after a tournament, and then you've got to play again the next morning. That is, you Germans know how to party, I'll tell you that. And you just had a big midsummer one last weekend too, didn't you? I wasn't there because I couldn't manage it with the family. Okay. But there was a great tournament also with the seven tournaments. And same as every time. So it's really a great experience to go there. It's tough when the family gives you that guilt trip. Like what, you're not going to let me play pinball for four straight days? They really make you feel crappy about that, don't they? So I cannot understand. And then, of course, you've got the big Ho Ho Ho event coming up in December. Yeah. So I don't know exactly how many tournaments, but it's only from Friday to Sunday. So only three days, but I think it's about five or six tournaments also. The Germans, they know how to play pinball. Thank you very much, Andres. Thank you. Team captain of USA here right now, Greg Pavarelli, who, okay, Team USA maybe didn't do as well as we possibly could. I'm happy with fifth or whatever we finished, but I'm more proud of you for what you did in the EPC. Talk about it. Hey, thanks, Jeff. Well, look, you were one of our stronger players in that tournament. Why? Because I didn't lose? Is that why? Yeah, you got points every time. You were a good split flipper partner with Levy, and it was cute watching you guys side by side, of course. You crushed it on Mustang with a little bit of my guidance. Yes, I did. It is funny how many games I play. I'm like, hey, Greg, how do you play Star Wars? What was the other one I just asked you? Star Wars and then what did we talk about? Star Trek. Star Trek, yeah. But the cool thing was, was Fifth was actually a great performance out of all those teams. Oh, yeah. The Netherlands played amazing. They deserved it. They really only beat us on one ball on Aerosmith. It was a one ball. That's it. Yeah. That's it. And you know what? We came back strong against France. We won that last game on Star Trek. It was fun. I had a good time, and I'm really glad you're an American, Jeff. North American? Whatever. I had the bad boys. Those American flag pants. I mean, that was the look. Hey, man. Let's talk about you. EPC, probably going to come in around 11th overall. That is amazing. Yeah, man, thanks. I had a good run after my Danish pinball open. First practice I had in the day was weak. I came out swinging an EPC, put up a really good ticket. It held up, and the seeding in this tournament was really important because the tiebreaker is based off seed, and you have the position in the first game, which is a random choice of game, but going second every round was very helpful.
    40:25
    So, yeah, I won a tight match the first time against a Swedish guy, and then the second round was really close. Marcus Witteren from Finland. Yeah, he finished third at the Pinball Profile World Tournament. Yeah, excellent player, 16 years old. It just keeps going to show these young kids are really learning a lot and becoming excellent players. We had a battle, game five, attack for Mars. I ended up squeezing it out, 1.5 bill to 1.4 bill with two dangers early on. But yeah, 10th was worth 50 points. That helps push me back into the top 100. And I'm looking forward to the 24-Hour Sanctum where I'm going to be playing against you. I know you're a little bit older than me. Oh, geez. Your knees, I suggest stretching, lying down. I have surgery on October 24th. I'm going to be bionic by the time the 24-Hour Sanctum happens, or maybe not. Anyway, Greg, I want to talk to you more about this because, first of all, congratulations on the marriage and happy honeymoon. Oh, thanks, Jeff. And we have to explore. Obviously, you're staying with your wife. I'm staying with my wife. They're actually shopping together right now. We might be in trouble. Anyway, we have to talk about the mysterious Greg Jenga. That will be on the next episode, an exclusive with Greg Barbarelli. Congratulations. Hey, thanks, Jeff. I really, really enjoyed this trip, and it was very lovely having a nice dinner with you. Appreciate that. And everybody here is so nice. The Europeans are all amazing players. Everybody should check out EPC. They put on a great show no matter what country it is. Belgium next year. Yeah, can't wait for that. I'm probably going to come. All right. Hey, Jeff. Enjoy the waffles. All right. Talk to you, Greg. Yep. just going around the EPC here, just trying to find some people. Hi, what's your name? My name is Johannes. Johannes what? Ostermeyer. Do you play much? Yeah, kind of. I'm from Germany. Oh, okay. And have you thought about being in the IFBA? Because there's a ranking system. I didn't know if you knew about that, Johannes. Oh, I didn't know about it, but thank you for telling me. All right, we're with one of the greatest players of all time. Actually, I met your dad just a while ago, and I gave him a heck for teaching you so much. Yeah, he taught me a couple of things. Yeah, and well you're in school right now, aren't you? Yes, still in school, last grade right now, 12th grade in Germany And yeah, next year I will be finishing school Yeah, let's see Last time I talked to you, you were talking about all these different languages So for sure you're going to be a spy I don't think so, I don't hope so Why are you winking?
    42:50
    No, no, no So, I think I asked you before, Indus, that's a tough time of year for you? Yeah, it is in January, isn't it?
    42:59
    Maybe not next year, but the year after. And then also, too, something like the World Championship in Florida. Is that your schooling? Yeah, I will be having... You have to defend the World Championship! I know about it, but I have exams at the same time. What is more important, school or pinball? Johannes, you're a great player. You're failing this test. Yeah, it is not any exam. It's my graduation. It's not too less important, you know. Boo-frickity-hoo. You know what, you're choosing the right thing. I just want to see you at the World Championship. As I just said to Jim Lindsay, my goodness, you filmed the greatest match of all time. He did, he did, yeah. He did a really good job by streaming all the machines and games. I noticed Daniele's not here. Did he find out you were coming and said, no way, I'm not coming? No, as far as I know, he has to work. Yeah, I know it too. I'm just kidding. Daniele, I miss him. I saw him at Pinnberg. That was nice to be able to see him to come to that. He came second there. Yes, he did a great job. He's like the international Josh Sharp. Second at the World, second at Pimberg. Yeah, it's a bit of bad luck for him, but Keith is just a great player. Where did you finish at IFPA 15? Because I saw you in Toronto. It was not too good, I was 20th, I think. Did you learn something from that going into this one? Yeah, actually I did learn to never underestimate any opponent. yeah you look down at the other opponents and i did not i did not but i was like okay i can do it what a snob i'm just kidding you i know you know what everyone looks up to you now actually that's a different pressure i've talked to raymond davidson about this too and like yourself johannes we're talking about the two best players in the world in ifba when you go to a tournament the expectations are so high you're expected to win that's a different pressure that i've never experience so that's just not the case. You can't win every tournament. Yeah, I can't win every tournament but everyone is expecting me to do so. It is a lot of pressure to be honest. I also enjoy it. I'm playing better if everybody is expecting me to do so. I like it. Okay, well good luck here. Nice seeing you again and kick some butt. I will. Johannes came close almost.